It has been announced that the World Snooker Championships will be sponsored by online casino 888.com for the next five years in a multi-million Euro deal. The event will carry 888.com’s name after previous sponsor, Embassy’s sponsorship ended last year due to the enforcement of new regulations regarding tobacco advertising.

Rodney Walker, chairman of World Snooker said, “This is a very exciting and important day for snooker. The World Championship is our premier event, and it is also one of the highlights of the entire sporting year.” Walker added, “We have secured the future of the World Championship at the Crucible, the traditional home of snooker, we have signed a five-year agreement with BBC TV to ensure that the World Championship and the other main snooker tournaments remain on terrestrial television, and now we are able to reveal this new multi-million pound sponsorship.”

John Anderson, 888's Chief Executive, was equally enthused by the new agreement. 'We feel the sport has tremendous opportunities,' he said. 'I am personally delighted and it's an amazing opportunity to get into something big. We're looking forward to developing a beneficial and successful relationship,” he said.